Links for Wednesday, July 14, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Beijing gives companies short leash on data security
Beijing pushes Chinese firms to report cybersecurity vulnerabilities early and often amid growing threats / SCMP (paywall)
“Companies providing online products and services must report the discovery of any weaknesses in their systems within two days to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), according to a notice on Tuesday by the country’s cyberspace watchdog.”
China plans security checks for tech companies listing overseas / NYT (paywall)
“The proposed rules would close a gap that let the ride-hailing company Didi go public on Wall Street before assuring Beijing that its data was safe.”

Will Beijing’s crackdown force Big Tech to change its culture?
Alibaba and Tencent consider opening up their ‘walled gardens’ / WSJ (paywall)
“Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are considering moves to gradually open up their services to one another, as Beijing’s tech crackdown makes it harder for China’s two online giants to maintain the virtual barriers they have built in recent years.”
China called finance apps the best thing since the compass. No longer. / NYT (paywall)

Anhui is latest province to shut down crypto mining
China crypto miners squeezed further as Anhui halts projects / Bloomberg (paywall)
China dealt another blow to its beleaguered cryptocurrency industry, with Anhui Province becoming the latest to pledge to crack down on the practice of using power-hungry machines to mint bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
China’s Anhui to shut bitcoin mines in face of national crackdown, acute power shortage / Yicai Global

How far will China’s central bank’s fiscal easing go?
China will keep its economic operations within a ‘reasonable range’ / Caixin (paywall)
The government will employ comprehensive measures to take some of the pressure off smaller companies struggling under soaring commodity prices.
China traders to scrutinize maturing mega loan for policy clues / Bloomberg (paywall)
China real estate to see little extra cash from banks’ reserve ratio cut, analysts say / Caixin (paywall)

Smart and electric cars
Chinese smart car supplier Banma raises $460 mln from Alibaba, SAIC Motor, others / Reuters (porous paywall)
Banma specializes in in-car software and is expected to deliver its operating system in late 2021.
Baidu and ON Semiconductor team up with eye on image sensors for self-driving cars / Caixin (paywall)
Baidu Apollo, the company’s self-driving car venture, is teaming up with a Phoenix-based semiconductor manufacturer that makes an image sensor critical to autonomous vehicles’ vision systems.

Chinese stocks and bonds remain popular as major investment firm rings warning bell
Cathie Wood sells China tech stocks, warning of valuation reset / Bloomberg (paywall)
“The paring of Chinese tech holdings by one of the world’s biggest thematic fund providers underscores how the sector is losing its allure as Beijing increases scrutiny of the industry’s data collection and offshore listings.”
Global investors’ exposure to Chinese assets surges to $800bn / FT (paywall)

To control online influencers, Beijing targets talent agencies
Beijing steps up control of online influencers as culture ministry cracks down on talent agencies / SCMP (paywall)
“China’s culture ministry is seeking to expand its regulatory authority to live-streaming stars and other online influencers by targeting for the first time the agencies that help personalities monetise themselves online, a move that could shape the future of the booming live-streaming industry that so many Big Tech companies, from ByteDance to Tencent Holdings, have come to rely on for growth.”

How to get around Chinese sanctions on Australian wine: Make it in South Africa!
TWE launches Rawson’s retreat from South Africa for China / Vino Joy
“Australian wine giant Treasury Wine Estates has quietly rolled out South Africa made Rawson’s Retreat for China to bypass up to 218% punitive tariffs imposed on Australian wines.”

Internet user rights: TikTok does not seem worse than U.S. tech companies
Testing TikTok against its peers in the U.S. and China: New research from RDR / Ranking Digital Rights

Are TikTok’s U.S. policies substantively different from those of similar U.S.-based platforms?

No. While TikTok’s policies and practices stand out in a few small ways, the platform is largely aligned with its major competitors in the U.S…

Are TikTok users subject to greater human rights risks, given that the platform’s parent company, ByteDance, is headquartered in China?

It’s hard to say…

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

China’s carbon trading scheme to launch, at last
China plans July launch of national emissions trade scheme / Reuters (porous paywall)
“Trading will commence on China’s long-awaited national carbon emissions trading scheme later this month.”

COVID-19 update
COVID-19 vaccines are becoming mandatory in parts of China / WSJ (paywall)
Yesterday on The China Project: Chinese cities announce vaccine requirements for public places, setting off debate about freedom and vaccination inequality
China to start giving COVID-19 shots to teenagers this month / Reuters (porous paywall)

New quantum computer breaks records
Chinese quantum computer ‘sets record’ in processing test / SCMP (paywall)
“Scientists in China have claimed another benchmark in computing, saying their quantum device takes just 72 minutes to do a task that would take the most powerful supercomputer at least eight years.”

China constructs new small modular reactor
China starts construction of demonstration SMR / World Nuclear News
“Construction officially started today of the ACP100 small modular reactor demonstration project at the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China’s island province of Hainan,” the world’s first land-based commercial SMR.

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

Turkey and U.S. press on Xinjiang
Turkey’s Erdogan, China’s Xi discuss Uyghurs in phone call — Turkish presidency / Reuters (porous paywall)
“Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told his Chinese counterpart Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 on Tuesday it was important to Turkey that Uyghur Muslims live in peace as ‘equal citizens of China’ but said Turkey respects China’s national sovereignty.”
U.S. ramps up warnings of business risks in China’s Xinjiang region / Reuters (porous paywall)
“The U.S. government on Tuesday strengthened its warnings to businesses about the growing risks of having supply chain and investment links to China’s Xinjiang region, citing forced labor and human rights abuses there.”
China claims it has improved people’s lives in Xinjiang after U.S. warning / SCMP (paywall)
“China’s cabinet has released a white paper claiming ethnic minorities in Xinjiang enjoy political representation and rising living standards, as the U.S. warns companies about doing business in the region over allegations of forced labour and genocide.”

Biden’s firm stance with China on South China Sea, Hong Kong, and “democratic” AI rules
U.S. says will continue to hold Hong Kong authorities accountable / Reuters (porous paywall)
U.S. rejects China maritime claims, calls for ASEAN action on Myanmar / Reuters (porous paywall)
U.S. and allies must set ‘democratic’ rules for artificial intelligence, Biden administration officials say / SCMP (paywall)

Biden’s new China tech policy guy
Biden taps ex-defense official for key post on China tech policy / Bloomberg (paywall)
Biden will nominate Alan Estevez, “a Deloitte LLP logistics consultant and former Defense Department official to lead…the Bureau of Industry and Security.”

U.K. spies look to Russia and China
Two decades after 9/11, British spies turn focus back to Russia and China / Reuters (porous paywall)
“Britain’s top domestic spymaster cautioned citizens on Wednesday to treat the threat of spying from Russia, China and Iran with as much vigilance as terrorism, in a shift of focus back to counter-espionage nearly two decades after the 9/11 attacks.”

“Sense of crisis” over Taiwan
Japan calls for ‘sense of crisis’ over China-Taiwan tensions / NYT (paywall)
The threat of China invading Taiwan is growing every day. What the U.S. can do to stop it. / NBC
Co-authored by Lee Hsi-min (李喜明 Lǐ Xǐmíng), chief of the general staff of the Republic of China (Taiwan) armed forces from 2017 to 2019.

17 dead in Suzhou hotel collapse
Death toll rises to 17 in partial collapse of China hotel / Reuters (porous paywall)

Chinese-Japanese mix-up at Olympic Committee
Olympics chief mixes up Japanese and Chinese at Tokyo Games presser / Guardian
“Thomas Bach’s attempts to win over the reluctant hosts of the Tokyo 2020 Games got off to an embarrassing start on Tuesday when the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) referred to the people of Japan as ‘Chinese.’”

What will the future hold for LGBT+ communities?
China’s LGBTQ community is fading from rainbow to gray / CNN
The “impression among many is that LGBTQ people are free to explore their identities — so long as they do so in private.”
China judges LGBT rights ‘hostile’ / Taipei Times
“By now it has become painfully clear that the CCP’s modus operandi is to swiftly denounce any group calling for rights, or just greater social space, as having been incited by ‘hostile foreign forces.’ This hackneyed response is obviously a strategy to diffuse opposition, but it also functions to erase the agency of Chinese citizens who exercise their own minds.”
Hong Kong’s gov’t must stop squandering taxpayer money on multiple, futile attempts to hinder LGBT+ equality / HKFP
LGBTQ in China lament ‘dark day’ after social media crackdown / Al Jazeera
Context from last week on The China Project: WeChat terminates LGBT+ accounts of Chinese college students in overnight crackdown.

Expensive highways in Laos
Laos deepens reliance on China for key transport projects / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Multidimensional women in the cinema
China’s women filmmakers are embracing their stories. Moviegoers are loving it. / NYT (paywall)
Two films made by Chinese women, Hi, Mom and Sister, received widespread acclaim in their rejections of “the one-dimensional female roles often seen in commercial Chinese movies.”

Retro entertainment: Roller-skating rinks
Despite some stumbles, China’s once-popular skating rinks roll on / Sixth Tone
After struggling to keep afloat, new makeovers give roller-skating rinks a boost in popularity.

Bad parenting advice
On China’s internet, bad parenting advice is a big problem / Sixth Tone
“Parenting influencers claiming they can turn kids into superstar students are attracting huge followings on Chinese social media. But their advice is often highly problematic.”

Exploitative factory internships
Student’s suicide exposes abusive factory internships / The World of Chinese